Vancouver Lego Club: Big kids with little toys

Lego isn’t just for kids, and the Vancouver Lego Club (VLC) has shown that a strong community can be built using tiny blocks.

The adult-only club has grown from a handful of friends in a basement to a team of 25 consistent members with an online base of 600 people in just 10 years, according to club member Keith Reed.

The VLC exhibits its Lego art in many shows, which requires the efforts of each member and sometimes more than a year of planning. In the past, their creative structures have been showcased at places such as the Oakridge Centre Lego store and the VanDusen Botanical Garden’s Festival of Lights.

More than just fun and games

Although these shows make up the largest chunk of the group’s activities, the club has also laid the building blocks for a young boy’s dream through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, said Oakridge resident and club publicist Pierre Chum.

“We managed to help a little kid with his Make-A-Wish, which was to go down to Legoland. Since he relapsed we were able to bring him into our exhibit and have him [see] the show beforehand, before anybody was there. Just watching the expression on his face was just priceless,” said Chum.

The Surrey Museum’s bi-annual Lego show requires some of the longest planning. The most recent one, Lego: Myths and Muses, clocked in at a year-and-a-half’s worth of work.

The collaborative effort from each member resulted in a landscape that highlighted goddesses, monsters and heroes from across the ancient Mediterranean.

“For me personally, I think the biggest thing we’ve ever done . . . was the Surrey Museum. I think that stands as the biggest show we still do,” said VLC member Keith Reed. “I joined the club just when they started the planning for that so I was thrown right into the mixing pot.”

Club open to all the young at heart

Anyone is welcome to join the VLC to get in touch with their inner child, Chum said.

“People are big kids at heart. That’s always what we’re saying.

“We’re always looking to re-connect with our youth . . . That’s what we aim to do with the [VLC], to show people that Lego is still cool and very relevant, and you can build amazing things with it.”